The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear urgent hearing of the appeal filed by Karnataka Congress leader TD Raje Gowda, who lost his Assembly seat after nearly three years in office following a court-mandated recount of postal votes in Sringeri constituency.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant took note of submissions filed by senior advocate Devaddat Kamat, representing Gowda, who had challenged the April 6 order of the Karnataka High Court directing the re-verification and recount of postal votes cast in the 2023 Assembly elections.
Kamat urged the court to urgently list the matter on April 11, contending that the Supreme Court erred in the way it ordered the recount of votes, which ultimately led to BJP leader D N Jeevaraj being declared MLA from Sringeri.
The CJI responded that the court would consider the request for an urgent hearing. “Normally, we would order a stay in such matters… However, we will examine your matter,” Justice Kant noted.
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The dispute arose from the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, where Raje Gowda originally defeated Jeevaraj by a narrow margin of 201 votes and has since been serving as the MLA from the constituency.
However, based on the election petition filed by Jeevaraj, the Karnataka High Court on April 6 ordered re-verification and recount of postal ballots.
The recount, which took place last week and lasted until midnight, changed the outcome dramatically.
While Jeevaraj’s postal vote tally fell marginally from 692 to 690 votes, Raje Gowda’s tally fell sharply from 569 to 314 votes, resulting in a net decline of 255 votes in his favour. After counting the revised votes, the returning officer declared Jeevaraj elected under Section 66 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The development led to the ousting of the incumbent Congress MLA nearly three years after he entered the Assembly, sparking a political and legal controversy in Karnataka.
Raji Gowda and the Congress alleged manipulation of ballot papers during the recount process.
Speaking after the recount, Gowda claimed that many postal ballots that were originally counted in his favor in 2023 were now treated as invalid after new marks appeared on them.
He told the media: “There are marks on the ballot papers in my favour. A different ink was used, which is clearly visible. During the 2023 counting, all those votes were deemed valid in the presence of counting agents from all parties. Now, these votes have been declared invalid.”
Congress also alleged that there was a bigger conspiracy behind this coup. Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar termed this development a “dangerous” trend and accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy to revoke the mandate. “We will conduct an investigation at the government level. We will fight this legally as well,” Shivakumar said.
Separately, Sudhir Kumar Muruli, who worked as a canvassing agent in Gowda during the 2023 elections, filed a police complaint in Chikkamagaluru alleging tampering of 255 ballot papers in favor of the Congress candidate. The complaint demanded that a case be registered and investigated against election officials and others involved in the vote recount process.
